Improvement in stamp-affixing apparatus



M. SIMON. S tamp-Affixing Apparatus.

'No. 217.244. I Patented Juiy 8,1879.

FIG. 2

%ssas. INVENTOR. ,M MWQMJ MQ N. PETERS, PHOTOJJTMOGRAPMER, WASHINGTON Dc UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARCUS SIMON, OF NEW YORK, N.'Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN STAMP-AFFIXING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,244, dated July 8,1879 application filed June 11, 1878.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARCUS SIMON, of New York,in the county and State ofNew York, and at present residingin Frankfort-oniheMain, Germany, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines or Apparatusfor Aflixing Stamps and Labels, and for other similar purposes, of whichthe following is a specification.

The said invention consists of a plate of the size and form of thestamps or labels with which it is to be used. The plate is mounted on asuitable handle, through the interior of which passes a long pin, bywhich a series of sharp-points may be projected through a correspondingseries of holes in the plate. A spring draws the sharp pins back throughthe plate when the pressure is removed from thepin or end that passesthrough the handle. For closing envelopes the plate carried by thehandle is shaped like the gummed edge of the flap of the envelope.

Similar instruments have been proposedhitherto by which the stamp ispicked up by projecting points, on which it is carried to a wet spongeand then placed in position with a pressure that forces the needles backby their points and permits the surface of the stamp to' be uniformlypressed by a plate;.but in my invention the points are retracted whenthe instrument is not in use. They are projected only by a pressure onthe end of the rod that passes through the handle, and the stamp may beaffixed without puncturing the letter or pressing with the points uponthe package to which it is affixed.

To enable others skilled in the arts to which it appertains to make anduse my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction andoperation with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the instrument as it is made foraffixing postage-stamps or labels of a rectangular form. Fig. 2 is asection of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an instrumentadapted to the form of the flap of envelopes.

The handle a is made by preference, for convenience in use, of the formshown in the 'drawin gs, and carries the perforated plate b by the pins0, which also serve as guides for the sliding plate 01, upon which thesharp pins are placed. The rod 0 is secured to the movable plate (I, andpasses through the handle and terminates with a button, j, that projectsabove the handle. The spring 8 under the button holds up the movableplate at and its sharp pins, but yields to pressure upon the button f,by which the pins are thrust through and beyond the perforated plate 12.

In using the instrument, the stamp or label or the edge of an envelopeis first placed on a soft substance that will not injure the points ofthe sharp pins. The instrumentv is then placed upon it, the button f ispressed down, and the points of the pins forced through the paper orother material, and, with the pins still projecting, it is placed on awet sponge and then transferred to the place for adhesion, where thepressure is relaxed upon the button, which causes the sharp pins towithdraw, and

the operation is completed by the pressure upon the handle, by which theperforated plate b, that rests upon the stamp, label, or envelope, ispressed forcibly upon it.

A metal tray may be made to accompany the instrument, with divisions forstamps of various forms, and corresponding to the forms and sizes ofenvelopes.

I claim as my invention The combination of the handle a, the perforatedplate I), the guide-pins c, the movable plate d, with its pointed pins,the rod 6, the button f, and the spring 3, operating to re tract thepoints, except when pressure is ex erted on the button in the handle,substantially as described.

MARCUS SIMON.

Witnesses:

D. ScnliFER, ALVESTO S. HoeUE.

